Taurage [key], Ger. Tauroggen, town, W Lithuania, on the Yura River. Dating from the 13th cent., Taurage belonged to Prussia from 1691 to 1793, when it passed to Russia. It was incorporated into independent Lithuania in 1920. The city is known historically as the site of the signing of the Convention of Tauroggen in Dec., 1812, between Russia and the Prussian general Yorck von Wartenburg. Acting on his own authority, Yorck, whose troops constituted a contingent of Napoleon I's defeated Grande Armée, declared his corps neutral and thus permitted the Russians to continue their pursuit of the French.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2024, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: CIS and Baltic Political Geography
